We learned during Microsoft’s attempts to acquire Activision Blizzard that a PS5 version of Bethesda and MachineGames’ Indiana Jones adaptation was originally planned – until the Redmond firm renegotiated the terms with intellectual property holder, Disney. Discussing this matter directly, the firm’s head of gaming, Sean Shoptaw, said he doesn’t believe the decision is “overly exclusionary”.
Speaking with Axios, he explained: “[With] Xbox still being one of the bigger marketplaces for games, we didn't feel like we were going to be overly exclusionary. We felt like it's still going to reach a broad set of folks, and we felt, financially and strategically for the game, that made sense at the time.”
Obviously, Microsoft now owns Bethesda and MachineGames, so is free to deploy its developers however it desires. It’s a little disappointing to know a PS5 version of the game was planned, however, and it’d be interesting to know exactly how the contract was renegotiated to exclude it. Whatever the case, it doesn’t sound like Disney is having any regrets right now.
[source axios.com]
Comments 112
That quote actually sounds like they kind of regret the exclusivity especially after the recent movie bombed and seeing the sales of Xbox consoles absolutely crater
Good to have a PC, in addition to PS5. After this bold standment, I highly doubt that Marvel’s Blade isn’t Xbox console exclusive as Sony ex-dev suggested.
machine games is a very capable developer so this game has the potential to be quite good. shame playstation fans will miss out on this one but we can't win them all.
Not overly exclusionary? You decide that you are not going to release the game on a specific platform so I'm sorry but to me that's overly exclusionary. I would have liked an Indiana Jones game on the ps5 but alas its not to be but I'm still interested to see how it turns out. For once I am a teensie bit envious of the xbox and PC crowd.
Bit gutted. This and Blade sound great, and Xbox’s cloud gaming is abysmal compared to PS.
"one of the bigger marketplaces"? Well I guess he's right as there's only a few but presumably a large portion of those will get it free on Gamepass whereas PS users would pay retail.
I just don't understand his reasoning.
Disney making the wrong decisions financially again there's a surprise
Also I thought Dial of Destiny wasn't that bad.
It probably made financial sense because microsoft paid a huge amount more to keep this exclusive for Gamepass. It’s just Disney being Disney right now with decisions like this...
Blade confirmed as Xbox exclusive then folks.
Sure they will regret it once they see the sales for the game, gamepass money ain't going to cut it for someone like them.
Well, they are hardly going to say, “of course it’s really exclusionary as PS5 is by far the larger userbase, but we got paid loads of money to leave them out”. Interesting how they say Xbox is one of the larger marketplaces when MS’s whole message was how terrible their market share is 🙄 I’d respect these companies a lot more if they didn’t treat us like idiots…but then most people are idiots unfortunately.
I can’t say I’m all that excited about Disney ip continued colonization of Sony‘s first party Studios and Microsoft we need to buy them because we suck studios.
@dark_knightmare2 yeah I don't think it's an IP that's popular with this generation, the film was proof of that.
I’m going to throw it out there.
Is Indiana jones that big of a draw these days anyway? I really don’t think it is. Is it going to be much different than uncharted?
Plus obviously Disney were happy with the money they received clearly.
The dial of dysentery #Doomcok was right 👍
I'm suprised they didn't put fleabag on this 🤣
I guess they haven't seen that PS5 is crushing it in sales, then...but Disney hasn't made very smart decisions in recent years either.
Could care less as i own both consoles, but i will say it’s about time MS starts trying to get exclusive content. Sony will be just fine without it and MS will get some Sub’s and sales from it and then on to the next game. I still see people getting the Xbox exclusives need PS console sales to make money mistake. If MS only released the game day and date on Xbox then yes, but there are far more Xbox’s plus PC’s in the world then there is PS5’s. PC has widely been said to be the main sales platform for a few dev’s and look no further to even Capcom and others from Japan releasing on PC early and often. Xbox could sell 50 million consoles a generation and be fine with the support of PC. Meanwhile until Sony supports PC day and date they are limited to how many PS5’s sell and then later get the PC money. Neither strategy is wrong really, but in the end neither is going to leave the PC money on the table.
looks like just another cartoon game witch Xbox studios is best known for developing.
@Northern_munkey I think he just meant with pc and cloud included. So yeah I see his point, but how many of us would have actually bought a Indy game?
I say let them have it. We still get priority with 90% of the games released.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Back in the day it was popular but now it's not, the last film didn't do so great but probably because the main guy is an 80 year old man 😅 can't see this generation being interested in that. If they want to make the IP popular again they need a reboot with a new actor.
@Anke it wasn’t i enjoyed it
Wise decision. Xbox is in the top 3 of console gaming marketplaces after all!
@Northern_munkey It's nowhere near exclusionary as Wolverine/Spider-Man 2.
Because while yes, PlayStation 5 is selling way better then Series X/S, Sony is still ignoring PC market with day one releases. Microsoft is not. So looking at it only through optics of "Xbox is selling worse" is really disingenuous.
So let's say it through numbers
Sony with Spider-Man/Wolverine is ignoring 300+ million PC users, 130 million Switch users, 25 million Series X/S users
Microsoft with Indiana Jones is ignoring 50 million PlayStation users and 130 million Switch users.
So who exactly is more exclusionary?
Indiana Jones and Blade are just about fact that PlayStation users aren't used to being overlooked with AAA releases and they are used to play everything from JRPG games to big named licensed IP's.
I suspect Disney would have negotiated a similar contract to the Square Enix, Avengers. Disney's getting paid whether its successful financially or not.
It’s less exclusionary than Spiderman and Wolverine are when they release so… 🤷♂️
Xbox finally sorting itself out with exclusives. Good for them. Might pick up the Series S with game pass once they're all out.
@Anke It was a big improvement over "Crystal Skull". But then so was my last hernia operation.
@Godot25 It makes sense for Xbox to release games on PC as PC is also a Microsoft platform.
Sony don't need to do that because the player base is already huge without it. But as we've seen Sony games do eventually come to PC (except Bloodborne 😭)
@UltimateOtaku91 What you fail to understand is that Microsoft does not need to have a sales profit sharing contract, they can pay for the license and keep all the risk, and this is very common with IP licensing
@MidnightDragonDX Microsoft put their games Day 1 on Steam + Bethesda hás a Deal to release their games on Epic Store for a few Years.
@Recover20 I agree.
But my point was more about people bitching about Microsoft "being exclusionary" when it's Sony that is way more "exclusionary"
Which is not a bad thing of course. Every company has their own strategy and they are trying to make it work. But at least people should stop being hypocrite.
They get their payout before the buyout, doesn't bother them. Their comments are completely stupid though. Never mind.
We felt like it's still going to reach a broad set of folks, and we felt, financially and strategically for the game, that made sense at the time.
Now backing the horse in third, way behind the front two.
I bet that they don't think decision makes sense now (not that it did really then either).
@MaikonCSGarcia exactly this. The game wasn’t being made, so there was never a profit expected. Now that it is, it’s going to bring in money for both parties involved. Even if it only makes $10,000 in actual sales profit, that’s still more than $0.
I agree with others too, that Disney was obviously happy with the terms, and wouldn’t have moved forward unless they were.
@UltimateOtaku91 I’m certain they will be fine. They wouldn’t have agreed to it unless they were. Money is money. And profit from a game in any amount is still more than the zero it would make without being created in the first place. Even $1,000 is better than zero.
@nessisonett I think this is why the series S is perfect. Pick one up, dirt cheap second hand.
Remember, I’m sure that out of 200 games that are made (just a random example), maybe 199 on average come to our platform.
Can you really say that missing that one or two a year is really that bad?
Indianna jones used to be a big IP and might have some nostalgia value for gamers of a certain age (including me), but its appeal is definitely in the past.
Now its just an old man with a whip doing a bad Lara Croft impersonation.
Would I have bought an Indiana Jones game if it was on PS5? Probably on sale, yeah. Will I buy an XBox or a PC to play it? Absolutely not. I'm a little disappointed to not be able to play this or Blade, but system sellers they ain't.
It is disapointing given this game was in development as a multiplatform title prior to the bethesda buyout (albeit no platforms were announced), but i guess its no less exclusionary than spidey exclusively releasing on playstation. Despite the debate, id be genuinely shocked if blade is not also exclusive. Will be interesting to see how well they perform at market
Microsoft needs the exclusives and competition is good for Sony. It might prompt Sony to get the hammer out and break open the case marked Uncharted 5 which at this point would be a good thing
@LN78 anything would be an improvement on that garbage.
@Godot25 Do you even understand the word exclusionary?
Using your own teams to make games for your platform is absolutely not an example.
Buying an IP thats already in development for multiple platforms and then paying to keep that game off certain platforms, that definately is.
No kudos for MS bringing games to PC, as thats their own platform, or were you not aware?
The only reason this story has traction at all is as its a classic example of MS using its money to remove a game already being made from a direct competitor, something MS have repeatedly denied they do, but are quite clearly doing anyway.
No one has issues with them using their teams to develop their ips for their platforms, just as Sony do with Spiderman and the forthcoming Wolverine. These titles were never in production for xbox. Indeed MS were offererd the spidey ip and turned it down before Sony steped in created a great game.
So
1 Developing your own game for your own systems = good
2 Paying to keep a partially developed existing game off your rivals platform = bad.
It's fitting for a company that makes a ton of bad decisions.
@Titntin Do you understand why exclusives are called exclusives right? Because they exclude a group of people.
MachineGames (and Arkane Lyon) are owned by Microsoft. Microsoft is funding development of Indiana Jones and Blade. They are first party games in same vein as Wolverine and Spider-Man. Also they didn't "bought" IP, they just licensed it.
Also. PC is not "Microsoft's platform." PC is open platform with competing stores and Microsoft sees no money from copy of other games sold through GoG/EGS/Steam. So arguing with that is pretty stupid.
And don't claim it's only about "removing games already being made for different competitor" because people bitch about Blade and that game started development in 2022 - when it was pretty clear that no PlayStation version is or ever will be developed.
As I said. This whole spiel is about PlayStation fans being angry, because they are used to have everything. So now they are trying to invent theories why it doesn't make financial sense for Indiana Jones and Blade to be exclusive for Disney. When in reality, those game are exclusive to bring people into Xbox ecosystem.
I want to play Indiana Jones/Fable/Gears 6 etc. so I bought Xbox. I recently purchased PlayStation 5 because there are plenty of games I don't want to miss. It's business so stop arguing with morality and ethics.
@Godot25 Ah, the mythical 300+ million PC users. It's a great number to throw in to fit a narrative but where is there any evidence that there are 300+ million gamers that use their PC for AAA gaming, when no PC game has come even remotely close to selling that many copies? You may as well have added in 1 billion plus mobile users too.
@Porco Im a heavy playstation fan and i play all the games because im not a fanboy!can all playstation fans not afford a pc or a series console?Even for the price of gamepass you can cloud game on your smart TV with no hardware at all so £12 to play all the exclusive xbox games for a month
Removed - flaming/arguing
@Kevw2006 Mate. Steam alone has 126 million MAU which is more then PlayStation (107 million). Add EGS (estimates talk about 62 million MAU), GoG, Battle.net, Riot Launcher, Xbox Store on PC, EA Store, Ubisoft Connect etc. and you will maybe get a grip about how huge PC market actually is.
If it financially made sense for Disney then Microsoft must have dug real deep to come close to offsetting their percentage of lost PlayStation sales
PlayStation and Xbox are the current equivalent of BLU-RAY and HD-DVD and Disney know how that panned out.
@themightyant
That value must also be quite low too tbh.
I mean, its not like Indy is a best seller franchise, making it an exclusive is the best move in order to cut any possible financial loss.
@dark_knightmare2 Yeah, that’s what I thought too. The way he adds that qualifying statement at the end, “we felt, financially and strategically for the game, that made sense at the time.”
It sounds like he’s trying to excuse and explain the logic of a decision that is now being felt as a poor choice.
If the recent Stankbuster of a film was anything to go by, MS are quite welcome to keep this for Gamepass.
It's called Microsoft paid Disney a boatload of money.
Lets hepe the games better than the last 2 movies..... alot better.
@ROTTIEMAN16 I think for me it's the living room real estate that would be taken up for the sake of one or two games. It's extra space in the TV cabinet, another controller lying around, another HDMI port taken up on the TV. Tried Game Pass streaming on my laptop before and even on a fast hard wired connection it didn't impress.
I came close to getting a Series S in the lead up to Starfield, but from what I've read about how it turned out, I'm not sure I'd even pay full price for it now, let alone buy a whole new machine to play it.
"...made sense...at the time". They regret it then.
That's a roundabout way of Disney saying they made a big mistake, but can't do anything about it now. Selling fewer copies of a game never makes financial sense. The only reason Microsoft can get away with it and even encourage it via Game Pass is because they have so much money from their actually good products like Azure, Office, and Windows.
Well, Disney has been making really sound decisions lately, I’m sure this was just one more of them. >.>
Xbox is one of the biggest marketplaces for games? I thought it was an underdog to the mighty PlayStation?
I can see both sides to the argument on this. It can be disappointing to know it was originally planned to also have a PS5 version and then renegotiated to be Xbox exclusive. If the situation was flipped and Sony bought Bethesda, it would probably be PS5 exclusive. They would have renegotiated as well. Both consoles need exclusives, Xbox got this one.
@Anke His reasoning is sound.
XBox isn't just the console.
It is GamePass.
It is Cloud.
It is PC.
It is mobile.
It is cloud.
It is console.
XBox has evolved into a multi-platform eco-system which is why looking at just console sales or numbers gives a very misleading picture.
The PC market is very fragmented. But it is also HUGE. Much larger than PS and XBox combined. That is hundreds of millions of players who can potentially buy Indiana Jones or Blade.
The 50m PS5 consoles are, all things considered, a minor matter. Important, but PS isn't as big or powerful as it wants to be. Sony ignored PC development and that has ramifications.
Sonys big advantage is not size or consoles sold, but that the PS market is controlled and unified, allowing it to set prices, conditions and access. PC gamers are also far more independent and like deals, buying games cheaply.
But yes...once you recognise that Disney is OK with IJ and Blade going to the hundreds of millions of cloud, mobile, PC and XBox devices, the decision to drop the 50m PS5s makes sense.
Its a shame but exclusivity is the game and cant demand it all. Just wont be playing or putting money towards the game
The Xbox and PC user base far out matches the PS5 user base (less if you count active user base) so no issues. It's the same as having no issues putting Spider-Man on PS4 and PS5.
The PC market has the most active user base and I'm thinking that's where they will make money day 1.
I don't know where the narrative that people with Game Pass never buy games comes from. I use it to try out games I never would have played before and the vast majority of the time, if I like it, I'll buy it.
@Godot25 funny you are overestimating PC number. While there are billions of PC, PC gamers are very minority. Hence GTA 6 or 5 or RDR 2 never release day and date on PC (also because of piracy problem and more difficult to optimise). I can say for sure even combined with PC Indiana or even Xbox exclusives did not sell as well as PS exclusives.
And I'm sure Sean Shoptaw said that while having Warner's Hogwarts Legacy in mind, right?
Oh, wait a second...
Time to fast track that rumored Uncharted PS5 game Sony. Dont let Indy come out uncontested.
@Porco I like machine games but their last game (Youngblood) was total garbage.
It's fascinating that Xbox exclusivity is such a hotly debated topic on here, just shows that Phil Spencer and his cronies have run their mouths against them one too many times, and now will have to put 2x the work to justify the 180.
I have zero issue with exclusives, they're the biggest and best games we get, just hope "Team Green" will finally shut up about them and stop being hypocrites.
They can have Indiana Jones tbh. As long as MS keep their mitts off Tomb Raider, I’m fine with this. I don’t think Indiana Jones is even popular anymore is it? Good luck to them.
@Darylb88 PC player base is the most unreliable group of consumers in all of media. Microsoft cut Disney a nice check to offset and will put all of their marketing power behind it. They just need to make sure the game is good and sales will be fine
They'll have regrets when they see how few amount of copies they sell.
Oh no! No Indiana Jones on PlayStation!?!
sobs into his Uncharted and Tomb Raider games
Disney totally out of touch with reality again - who'd have thought, eh?
Not "overly exclusionary"
Good grief. I wonder how long it took them to decide on that phrasing.
@Northern_munkey join the PC master race ! I’d say the average PC today is pretty serviceable for most games & the convoluted-ness of PC has diminished over the years , and there’s controller support for all controllers
@nomither6 not going to happen. I built a gaming rig years ago and I got fed up with the endless driver upgrades and hardware upgrades. If I had a disposable income maybe I'd consider it but the ps5 is more than enough for this ageing gamer.
@Porco people said the same about Arkane, then look at what happened with Redfall.
@MrMagic true. i enjoyed both wolfenstein games but did not play the youngblood expansion since i heard a lot of negativity swirling around it. i'll cut them some slack since their track record is pretty solid otherwise (although they have only really worked on those two games being a newish studio).
Isn't this basically saying "we don't want to compete with Uncharted"?
@MrSec84 yes, but it is important to note that redfall was developed by arkane austin and not arkane lyon. lyon was responsible for dishonored 2 and dealthloop whereas austin worked on prey and apparently had some serious talent drain during redfall's development where close to 70% of the staff left the project. the game was destined to fail in its current state and yet microsoft forced it out the door.
@mrbone I literally provided you hard number of MAU on two PC stores that vastly exceeds number of PlayStation users.
Rockstar is not releasing GTA VI on PC day one because they know they can double dip on people who are impatient and will buy GTA VI on PlayStation/Xbox and then on PC. Which is smart on their part.
Also. I never claimed that Indiana Jones will outsell PlayStation exclusives. I just said that it's not as big deal to skip PlayStation as some of the PlayStation users claim it is thanks to Xbox+PC combined audience.
And regarding "small size" of Xbox+PC audience. Forza Horizon 5 exceeded 35 million players. Not bad for "just" racing game
@Northern_munkey ah , i think i talked to you before about this . thats right
@Godot25 sorry where is your proof of monthly active users? Despite vastly outnumbering console gamers, why games are usually sold more on consoles? Piracy?
Oh GP always count everyone who downloads and plays even 10 sec. Rockstar not releasing on day and date is more than double dipping. Rampant piracy on PC is one of them.
@mrbone https://www.tweaktown.com/news/89084/pc-market-rapidly-expands-as-steam-hits-record-30-million-concurrent-users/index.html
Epic also publishes their MAU at EGS every year, so you can easily check it out. Steam is also growing so that 120 million is currently probably higher. And as I said, I didn't count huge crowd of Battle.net users and Riot Launcher users, and smaller crowds of Xbox App users, EA Play users, Ubisoft Connect users and GOG users.
Games are selling on PC, but PC has way more games and also different preferences. For example, Baldur's Gate 3 sold way more copies on PC because console gamers are not that hot on CRPG games while PC gamers are. Cyberpunk and Witcher 3 also sold best on PC. So trying to pretend that PC is small market is just pure lunacy. Riot literally never released game on consoles and they are one of the biggest gaming company on the market.
"Oh GP always count everyone who downloads and plays even 10 sec." Yes. And copy sold is copy sold even if person never played the game or played 10 minutes. And also when game is bundled with console (ehm. God of War Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2). But if you want to claim that 35 million Forza Horizon 5 players only played the game for 10 minutes and never turned it again then be my guest.
@Godot25 you must be quite tiring coming to the PlayStation site every day and praising Xbox. lol
OK let's break it down. Even forgetting about the a lot of overlapping users, there aren't 300+ million combining all Steam, gog, Epic and smaller service. Although I don't play games on PC, I have steam, epic, battlenet, gog accounts to claim free games. So that is the LITERAL numbers you provided? Liar! 30 million out of a possible 300 + million (if I take your number) for a free game available on 1 $ promo service is a bad number (Oh I was one of them).
The fact that you don't think Indiana and other exclusives would sell more than PS exclusives speaks volumes. (why should games on 50 million base system sell more than 300 millions base). It does not make sense. Don't want to argue over stupid console wars, my original point was you are overestimating the numbers of pc gamers.
@mrbone Fact that you have account in services doesn't make you MAU (Monthly active user). You should know that before you want to use phrases like liar.
Since you are arguing about bad numbers, isn't selling 20 million copies of a game that sold 120 million consoles also bad number?
I don't think Indiana Jones would sell more then PlayStation exclusives even if it was multiplatform (including PlayStation release). Mainly because I don't think Indiana Jones has brand recognition as Spider-Man (for example). Even if it will be excellent game.
I don't even need to "convince you" about anything. Numbers speak for itself. PC gaming market is similar size as market of all 3 console manufacturers combined.
https://fatihyazici7.medium.com/game-industry-overview-and-trends-f697fc13d702
And about my allegiances. I have PlayStation 5 and Series X. So you can imply whatever you want...
@Th3solution yep that was exactly the part of the statement I was talking about
@Godot25 lol what? fatihyazici7 website is your source? Are you kidding? I don't even dare to open it. 20 million on 120 is still better than 30 out of 300 and those 20 million have to pay unlike free with promo sub. Indiana may not be as big as Spider-Man but it definitely has bigger name recognition than God of War, Uncharted, HZD, Tushima etc. So should have sold more than these based on >300 million base, don't you think?
@mrbone I can’t remember who tweeted it, but I remember it amassed a ton of player in the pre release week. And those millions had to pay for the premium edition to access it early. So it has sold a ton.
i'm not worried about this game, no one has seen it , its years away , who knows when this game will even see the light of day or if it would actually be good or not. this is the problem games like this get announced way too soon , with very to no info. i'd rather sony wait to announce games when they are ready to announce. instead of 5-8 years ahead of release.
As if Bethesda could ever make a good Indiana Jones game. Not happening in this lifetime hahaha
Doesn’t seem all that smart when you compare how PS5 games sell in comparison.
If the game is based on recent movies PlayStation owners should be grateful.
@nomither6 it's okay I understand you are quite passionate about your PC gaming and I can appreciate what a decent rig brings to the party but the ps5 is doing a fantastic job at a fraction of the price required. Horses for courses 👍
lol almost feel sorry for them. 'yeah, we're happy to not have our game on the largest selling next gen console. Makes financial sense"
lol yeah almost 4 years ago "PS5 is just a low end PC, buy a low end PC instead" Like to see a 4yr old low end PC play FF16 in 4k 30fps in quality mode.
Looking forward to it
@nessisonett what 😅😅😅 I think your the only person to have ever said that
streaming PS is terrible compared to gamepass
@Stickleman Streaming through the Xbox app on PC or through a Smart TV is an abysmal experience. Even though a wired connection the input lag is dreadful and there’s a weird effect where the picture sticks and then it updates itself in a screen wipe motion. With the old PS Now and then newer PS Plus apps on PC and on the PS5, I’ve finished whole games with minimal input lag. I played the Ratchet and Clank series over the last couple of months and there wasn’t even the slightest hitch. That’s just my experience, the Xbox app is a nightmare in comparison.
Exclusivity is not fun but part of the game. However, this gives me a reason to play on my Series S, its not getting much love these days.
Game about a middle aged white man. Not gonna happen. Why can't we get a mixed race, feminist trans person. I'd feel much more comfortable about that. Just because your making a game about a nostalgic character, doesn't mean it has to be the same character (irony)
Someone at Disney really doesn’t have a clue what they are doing do they
Maybe people should wait to see if the game is worth a damn?
@Godot25 ☝️very much this
I'm not the biggest Indiana Jones fan but it sucks for the Indiana fan on PlayStation but again you can't win them all there other games I would rather play that are exclusive to Xbox.
Okay, I'm convinced in 2023 we are just making up phrases... Overly exclusionary???
@ItsBritneyB_tch As someone who is old, loves Indiana Jones and even thought Dial of Destiny was a fun movie, I am saddened to hear from so many that no one gives a rip about Indy anymore. 😢
@SgtTruth Yep. I use to be a PC gamer in the late 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. Upgrading every 8 months. It was a fun hobby for a kid. But it’s so nice now being able to buy one machine and still be blown away by graphics years later. I recently started playing Hogwarts in Fidelity mode and it’s absolutely amazing looking. But yeah, it’s annoying PC gamers make out like a low end PC is equivalent.
Yes, why not publish on the largest console platform by 2:1?
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